In a bid to encounter the threat of extremely affordable Jio 4G data plans and to better the offer provided by the leading telecom operators on their 4G offerings, BSNL has announced truly unlimited 3G data plan at Rs. 1,099.

It is worth noting that this plan doesn’t come with any FUP whatsoever and the subscribers would be able to consume as much as data they want without any reduction in speed. BSNL has also doubled the data usage in many existing plans too. This unlimited 3G plan would be available pan-India starting today.

BSNL has improved its network significantly and is gaining new subscribers now.

“Due to improvement in network, BSNL has been gaining customers. We are now first in the industry to offer unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099 without reduction in speed. This will rejoice our customers and help them experience improved BSNL networks,” said BSNL CMD, Anupam Shrivastava.

As per the data released by TRAI, BSNL added the highest number of subscribers in April 2016 for a third month in a row. The state-led telecom operator added 11.39 lakh subscribers while Airtel added 9.78 lakh subscribers. These were followed by Aircel (5.72 lakh), RCom (1.1 lakh), Vodafone (46,600), MTNL (11,591), and Quadrant (-25,012).

BSNL is growing aggressively these days, thanks to its improved network and attractive tariff plans. Here are the updated plans

Pack Price

Free Bundled Data

Validity

Rs. 1099

Unlimited without any FUP

30 Days

Rs. 549

10GB

30 Days

Rs. 156

2GB

10 Days

BSNL Doubles 3G Data Usage

BSNL has increased 3G data usage in other plans too. Rs. 549 plan would now offer 10 GB data instead of just 5 GB while Rs. 156 plan would offer 2 GB 3G data now instead of 1 GB and would be valid for 10 days.

This is not the first time that BSNL is offering truly unlimited data plan. The company had launched truly unlimited 3G plan for Rs. 700 which was later withdrawn. Unlike other operators BSNL doesn’t have any 4G network as of now so it is banking on its 3G service to encounter the threats posed by incumbents.

It remains to be seen how other telcos react to this unlimited 3G plan from BSNL. Would they also start offering similar 3G unlimited plan or would just ignore it and focus only on pricing their 4G data plans competitively? We have interesting times ahead.

Update: We got lot of comments and email stating that the news is not true. Please see below what BSNL Corporate has published on their Facebook timeline. I hope that will clear any doubts.

And here is their announcement on twitter as well, just incase you need any more confirmation.

How this news has been published when there is no such plan. Do not use name of a writer for a news report that is a press release sourced through PTI. A writer verifies information and provides his/her own findings.

The BSNL website does not show any such plan (or may be the website is not updated – which is not possible). It is offering only 9 GB for 1099. I had stopped using its service because it even failed to connect most of the time. Its speed was worse than 2G. Now I am using Aircel. Its speed has improved recently and it offers 12 GB for 1000 which is maximum data that any 3G operator is providing at this price.

You are right about Facebook post which I did not check. BSNL should have updated its website to include this plan. ===http://www.bsnl.co.in/opencms/bsnl/BSNL/services/mobile/3g_prepaid_data_plan.html=== At the same time, there is not a single comment on that Facebook post from a user who has purchased/used this plan. This plan is still not listed on BSNL website. Only one person – Govind here in the above comment says it is working. I hope it is true.